Defining authority
From Internet: Knowledge and Community
The defining authority, or what Graham also calls "the rule" refers to the overarching philosophy of a community that determines what their objective interests are and what their subjective interests ought to be. Graham describes this as among the three characteristics required of a community along with being a subjective interest group and an objective interest group. An example of a defining authority may be the Bible in a church community because it heavily determines why those members are gathered in a community and under what conditions they are to conduct "business."
